Austin, Texas – The selection of educational book apps on iTunes has positioned the iPad mini to become the eReader of choice for kids, according to Carisa Kluver, founder of Digital Storytime, a children’s book app review site.

“While the iPad mini’s price point and portability make it an attractive holiday option for families,” Kluver said, “it’s the explosive growth on iTunes of quality book apps – a hybrid of an eBook and a game – that make it irresistible in the educational technology world.”

With more than 600 reviews of children’s book apps on her site, Digital Storytime, has become a trusted source for parents, educators and librarians shopping for educational quality story book apps. Because the iTunes App Store’s “Books” category of book apps exceeds the offerings of other platforms such as Android and Kindle in quality and quantity, the iPad mini is a natural choice for families and educators looking to engage children in reading through book apps ...

At some point in our lives, we’ve all practiced some counterproductive learning habits. We’ve sabotaged ourselves without realizing it, and found ourselves stuck. There have been failures we believe have defined our potential. We’ve obsessed over perfect solutions and singular pathways. In frustrated moments we’ve refused help from others, thinking acceptance means weakness. We’ve done this as teachers, students, friends, and parents.

These are not crimes; they’re part of what makes us human. Our counterproductive learning habits usually come from what we observe and hear. We pick things up as children from well-intentioned adults in our lives. In addition, the experiences of others constantly unfold right in front of us. We observe actively, and we remember.

Eventually we come to believe that what we see is how things are, and that it never changes. We know now that this doesn’t have to be the case. We know now that we can create our own experiences. Let’s make them good ones when it comes to learning.

At some point in our lives, we’ve all practiced some counterproductive learning habits. We’ve sabotaged ourselves without realizing it, and found ourselves stuck. There have been failures we believe have defined our potential. We’ve obsessed over perfect solutions and singular pathways. In frustrated moments we’ve refused help from others, thinking acceptance means weakness. We’ve done this as teachers, students, friends, and parents.

These are not crimes; they’re part of what makes us human. Our counterproductive learning habits usually come from what we observe and hear. We pick things up as children from well-intentioned adults in our lives. In addition, the experiences of others constantly unfold right in front of us. We observe actively, and we remember.

Eventually we come to believe that what we see is how things are, and that it never changes. We know now that this doesn’t have to be the case. We know now that we can create our own experiences. Let’s make them good ones when it comes to learning.

At some point in our lives, we’ve all practiced some counterproductive learning habits. We’ve sabotaged ourselves without realizing it, and found ourselves stuck. There have been failures we believe have defined our potential. We’ve obsessed over perfect solutions and singular pathways. In frustrated moments we’ve refused help from others, thinking acceptance means weakness. We’ve done this as teachers, students, friends, and parents.

These are not crimes; they’re part of what makes us human. Our counterproductive learning habits usually come from what we observe and hear. We pick things up as children from well-intentioned adults in our lives. In addition, the experiences of others constantly unfold right in front of us. We observe actively, and we remember.

Eventually we come to believe that what we see is how things are, and that it never changes. We know now that this doesn’t have to be the case. We know now that we can create our own experiences. Let’s make them good ones when it comes to learning.

At some point in our lives, we’ve all practiced some counterproductive learning habits. We’ve sabotaged ourselves without realizing it, and found ourselves stuck. There have been failures we believe have defined our potential. We’ve obsessed over perfect solutions and singular pathways. In frustrated moments we’ve refused help from others, thinking acceptance means weakness. We’ve done this as teachers, students, friends, and parents.

These are not crimes; they’re part of what makes us human. Our counterproductive learning habits usually come from what we observe and hear. We pick things up as children from well-intentioned adults in our lives. In addition, the experiences of others constantly unfold right in front of us. We observe actively, and we remember.

Eventually we come to believe that what we see is how things are, and that it never changes. We know now that this doesn’t have to be the case. We know now that we can create our own experiences. Let’s make them good ones when it comes to learning.

At some point in our lives, we’ve all practiced some counterproductive learning habits. We’ve sabotaged ourselves without realizing it, and found ourselves stuck. There have been failures we believe have defined our potential. We’ve obsessed over perfect solutions and singular pathways. In frustrated moments we’ve refused help from others, thinking acceptance means weakness. We’ve done this as teachers, students, friends, and parents.

These are not crimes; they’re part of what makes us human. Our counterproductive learning habits usually come from what we observe and hear. We pick things up as children from well-intentioned adults in our lives. In addition, the experiences of others constantly unfold right in front of us. We observe actively, and we remember.

Eventually we come to believe that what we see is how things are, and that it never changes. We know now that this doesn’t have to be the case. We know now that we can create our own experiences. Let’s make them good ones when it comes to learning.

Paul Pattison and Luke Minaker knew they were onto something when they got an email from the mother of a nine-year-old who read the first instalment of their interactive story, Weirdwood Manor. "She wrote that she couldn't get her son to pick up a book," said Pattison, technical director of All Play No Work, producer…

Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the beloved Peanuts gang are headed to US television screens, thanks to a deal between francetv distribution and Turner's 24-hour all-animation network Boomerang for the popular new Peanuts shorts series.

Karen B Wehner's insight:

As an old timer I can't help but wish they were re-releasing the originals too...

The guy behind an online learning juggernaut has started a new school in Silicon Valley. Salman Khan is trying to reinvent the classroom. Again.

Karen B Wehner's insight:

“It’s an engineering mentality,” Khan says. “You start with a solid baseline, but then you’re always willing to observe, measure, and iterate, and through those improvements you come up with something amazing. It worked for the car industry, computers, software. Can we do that with the school?”

Kadi Hughes: "In the past few years, participatory theater has moved from the fringes to the forefront, with audience members taking part in theater performances as active participants. This style of performance is creating a new way to view art—as a collaborative, always-changing creation" ...

Kadi Hughes: "In the past few years, participatory theater has moved from the fringes to the forefront, with audience members taking part in theater performances as active participants. This style of performance is creating a new way to view art—as a collaborative, always-changing creation" ...

Technology and big data can help capture and better understand the evolution of occupations and technical skills needs in real time: Just let the robots work for us. Photo by Justin Morgan/ CC BY The robots are coming and are taking our jobs. Or are they? The media and the blogosphere have been buzzing lately about the impact of artificial intelligence and robotics on our lives. In particular, the debate on the impact of automation on employment has amplified concerns about the loss of jobs in advanced economies. And accelerating technological change points the spotlight on questions like: Do workers, blue and white collar alike, possess the right skills for a changing labor market? Are they prepared for the employment shocks that come with the so-called “fourth industrial revolution”? What skills strategy should countries adopt to equip their workforces for the 21st century?

Many parents want their children to learn to code. Tech leaders and educators are pushing schools to add more computer-science classes, and families often see programming as an essential skill for the future.

But unlike reading to your children or teaching them to count, preparing children to code can feel daunting and unnatural. Many parents think they can’t help because they don’t know math or programming themselves.

Increasingly, though, parents who have never written a line of code are finding ways to teach their children basic programming skills. Some tap websites, gaming apps or online puzzles using visual programming languages designed for children. Others focus on teaching the kind of thinking that coding requires. For instance, even young children can learn how to break tasks into steps and perform them in order—a programming concept called sequencing—or to repeat a series of steps until a task is complete, a concept called loops.

Quote "VR is an emerging technology, and figuring out the best use of it in journalism has been a work in progress. Last month, CNNbroadcast the Democratic debate in virtual reality, but many of those lucky enough to try it out with their Samsung Gear VR headsets found the experience physically uncomfortable and more than a little boring."

Kurt Vonnegut gained notoriety and acclaim for his novels -- like Breakfast of Champions, “a slippery, lucid, bleakly humorous jaunt through (sick? inhumane?) America circa 1973,” with Vonnegut acting as our Virgil-like companion, Cat's Cradle, a satirical commentary on modern man and his madness,” and Slaughterhouse-Five, “one of the world's great anti-war books. Centering on the infamous fire-bombing of Dresden, Billy Pilgrim's odyssey through time reflects the mythic journey of our own fractured lives as we search for meaning in what we are afraid to know.

The vogue for active learning blinds us to the value of ancient teaching methods.

Karen B Wehner's insight:

Wonderful defense of the much-vilified lecture format. While I'm all for active learning, nothing beats a master lecturer standing before their class, weaving an enthralling story from facts and theory!

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